The First Minister, who had just finished a five-day visit to the US, said: “My doubt and my scepticism about simply dropping bombs is that it doesn’t necessarily take us one single inch closer to that peaceful outcome.”

GETTY

Nicola Sturgeon has slammed US intervention in Syria

There also has to be even more action by countries like the UK in terms of refugees and giving refuge

Nicola Sturgeon

She claimed offering refuge to Syrians fleeing the brutal conflict in their home country could be just as effective as military action.

Ms Sturgeon continued: “What I understand is the instinct to do something in the face of the quite horrific chemical attack carried out by the Assad regime earlier this week. The regime is completely beyond the pale.

“So there is in these circumstances I think always a sense of wanting to hit back and to do something.

“My concern about air strikes is and always has been that they are no substitute for a real plan for peace and what we need to see in Syria is an end to the conflict, the multifaceted, horrible conflict that is under way in that country.

“I suppose I have a concern that air strikes, particularly given what appears to be the quite dramatic change in the position of the American administration, increases the uncertainty and the unpredictability of the situation in Syria.